Juventus is angry about throwing away six weeks of good work in a few days, but remain focused on securing a place in the Champions League knockout stages by beating Zenit St Petersburg, coach Massimiliano Allegri said on Monday.
The Turin club suffered back-to-back Serie A defeats by Sassuolo and Hellas Verona on Wednesday, and Saturday, leaving them ninth in Serie A and 16 points adrift of leaders Napoli.
“We are all angry and sorry, we threw away everything we have built for a month and a half in the space of five days,” Allegri told a news conference.
Juve failed to win any of their opening four league games for the first time in 60 years but responded with a nine-match unbeaten run before their recent slump.
“We picked ourselves up, but then we fell back down again. We must reflect on it,” the coach added.
“Of the 15 goals we have conceded in the league, 11 of them were in six matches against teams who, with all due respect, are in the bottom half of the table.”
Despite Juve’s domestic struggles, they have won all three of their Group H games in the Champions League and will clinch a last-16 place if they beat Zenit in Turin on Tuesday.
The Old Lady have nine points, three more than Chelsea and six above Zenit. Bottom side Malmo have yet to earn a point.
“Zenit are a good team with technical players who score a lot of goals,” Allegri said.
“The Champions League is difficult, few teams have a chance to qualify as soon as tomorrow, the groups are quite well balanced."
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